Nathaniel Lester came to Canarsie three years ago with hopes of contending for a PSAL championship as a freshman.

But that plan was derailed when Eugene Lawrence left the Brooklyn school prior to his senior season and wound up winning a title at Lincoln before going on to St. John’s.

“I was a little disappointed he left,” the 6-2 junior said. “I never want someone to not want to play here. I want to change the way people think about us.”

With his 31-point performance yesterday in the third-seeded Chiefs’ 69-53 win over No. 11 Banneker in the quarterfinals at St. Francis College, there’s no doubt quite a few players would like to be on the court with Lester, who is now just one win away from getting to the championship game at the Garden.

“We haven’t been there in a long time,” coach Tom Allen said. “Having Nat around is a big reason why we’re this close.’

To get there, however, Canarsie will have to get past No. 2 Lincoln, which unceremoniously ended defending champion Kennedy’s playoff run, beating the No. 7 Knights, 92-65, behind 33 points from Lance Stephenson. The teams will meet tomorrow at St. John’s.

However, it’s already been a good run for Canarsie, which last won the league title in 1976, one year before Allen began attending the school and became the seventh-leading scorer in its history.

Throughout the playoffs, Allen has carried around the scorebook from that ’75-’76 season that ended with a win over Lafayette for the title and a perfect 24-0 record.

“I talk to my team about that year a lot,” Allen said. “I want them to understand the history.”

Lester is more interested in making some of his own. After last season’s first round overtime loss at the buzzer to Curtis, Lester wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again.

“I was inconsistent last year,” Lester said. “Now I make sure I play hard all the time in every game.”